About Simon Sherratt
I am a Physical Education teacher in my fourth year of teaching at Notre Dame High School in Sheffield. In my second year, I became a Curriculum Innovator, gaining the responsibility of increasing the use of ICT within my subject area.
One of the tasks which I set myself as part of this role was to create a set of video assessments to help aid internal GCSE practical assessments. The reason I chose this as a focus area was that I felt that there were a number of pupils who were underperforming when completing written assessments on the GCSE section of the AQA course which tests a pupil’s ability to critically analyse and evaluate sporting performances. I came to the conclusion that a great deal of these underperforming pupils were doing so because they were visual learners and found it difficult to visualise the sporting scenarios being described through an internal written exam.
With the help of my department and the extensive ICT knowledge of Sean Canning [Hallam City Learning Centre Manager, based at Notre Dame], I went about creating four sets of video assessment projects, a set each for Trampolining, Tennis, Football and Netball. Although I was faced with a number of challenges along the way, including some tedious video editing early on in the project, I am very pleased with the resource I have produced.
Since using the video assessment CDs over the past two years within Notre Dame, there is a clear indication that our department’s AQA GCSE practical grades have improved. Furthermore, the research I conducted during the second year of the assessment CDs’ use, outlined that 8 out of 10 students completing the GCSE course preferred completing the four video assessment CDs rather than using the written assessments that are still used for the other four practical sports that make up our GCSE practical section of our GCSE course. |
